Reguired elements this season in short program:
1. Block, pivotin must be done in 4 lines ( senior teams all attempt level4, so they have to do the pivoting with 4 steps on one foot and pivot 270 degrees. Pivot point musch change ens once.
2. Moves in the field
3. Wheel, travel must be done in a parallel wheel and change of direction in 2-spoke wheel. (for level4 you must do travel extra features such as release your hold for 3 secons)
4. No hold element (the step sequence done in 4 line no hold block)
5. Intersection (for seniors the required intersection this season is angled intersection)

This is very early for synchroteams to compete, so the programs aren't ready yet. Still i'm very excited for this season, since the finnish teams are all in a good shape, especially I liked Rockettes and Marigold's programs. Team Unique is strong and technically very good, but the program itself wasn't my favorite.
Revolutions are using finnish folkmusic in their program. And are you guys familiar with voguing? Marigold is using voguing in their short, and they mixed it up with Lion King! They have made Lion King program before, and they actually use they old starting position in this program. Lion King from the 2003 Worlds

Russia's Paradise have skated to ballad for 2 season in a row in their short so it was nice to see them doing something different, anf i'm sure that no other synchro team could so a cha cha as good as they did!

I agree about Team Unique's program not being that exciting, however, they skate it very well and were clearly the best at this competition.
It looks like as the season goes on that the Rockettes program could be really great.
MIU's dresses don't come across as nice as they could but perhaps they're nicer in person. I understand the concept, but the skirts seem too puffy, for lack of a better term.
I agree about Paradise too, there are much better songs they could have picked, however, they are really great skaters and have improved so much over the last few years. Also, since it's so early in the season for synchro, I can understand why they had to use last year's long program dresses, but I don't care for the yellow and can't wait to see what their dresses will look like.

Thanks for posting this and making it it's own thread. I hope we can get more synchro posters! I would love to learn more about it w/ IJS, since there wasn't IJS when I skated.

MIU - I liked the wheel to the spiral at about 1:20, it will become more striking as the season progresses. The costumes need work.

Rockettes - loved their pairing at about 1:05, very fast and seamless. These skirts are just as full as MIU but they seem to have a nice shape because of the contrast in black. They really math the music well. I can't wait to see more of them.

Team Unique - the dresses are fantastic, and it was a fun program to watch and technically the best program of the day.

Team Paradise - the music was awesomesauce and they did a great job - very entertaining. I feel like the team is stronger than the music, they look like they hold back in speed to stay with the music.

I know NOTHING about synchro but these were really cool/fun to watch. Thanks for posting!

Who does synchro? Are these people who sort of couldn't make it as single skaters / ice dancers or do people actually choose this as a discipline? Are they older than your average singles/pairs skaters?

I know NOTHING about synchro but these were really cool/fun to watch. Thanks for posting!

Who does synchro? Are these people who sort of couldn't make it as single skaters / ice dancers or do people actually choose this as a discipline? Are they older than your average singles/pairs skaters?

I know NOTHING about synchro but these were really cool/fun to watch. Thanks for posting!

Who does synchro? Are these people who sort of couldn't make it as single skaters / ice dancers or do people actually choose this as a discipline? Are they older than your average singles/pairs skaters?

It differs. In Finland synchronized skating is very popular, and there are skating clubs that focus only in synchro. And skaters really practise only synchro, and start to do it very early age. In most clubs and youngest synchroteams are for kids aged 6-10. Then there's also skaters that change form single skating, but not all single skaters become good synchroskaters. You need different kind of skills.

In countries where synchro isn't yet so popular the skaters are usually ex-single skaters or do both singles/ice dance and synchro.

About the age, the skaters in senior teams are usually about 17-25 years old. 15 is the age limit for seniors. Juniors agerange is 13-19. Novice is 10-15. Juvenile usually under 13.

edit: Here's a juvenile team's program from 2012: MiniMints. The team is from the same club as Rockettes.

I know NOTHING about synchro but these were really cool/fun to watch. Thanks for posting!

Who does synchro? Are these people who sort of couldn't make it as single skaters / ice dancers or do people actually choose this as a discipline? Are they older than your average singles/pairs skaters?

I don't know about other countries, but in the U.S, synchro is usually chosen as a separate discipline. The youngest levels are beginner teams which in actuality are part of the USFS Basic Skills (Learn to Skate) program and they compete at non-qualifying competitions along with the other non-qualifying and qualifying divisions. (see http://www.portersynchroclassic.com/teams.htm for an example of all of the teams/levels at non-qualifying competition.) Up until a point, skaters could train and compete in synchro and freestyle, but at some point they usually choose one or the other. Many synchro skaters do compete in the Solo Ice Dance series that USFS has setup, but I think it would be hard to do synchro and be competitive in another discipline. The senior synchro team in our area trains at least 20 hours a week.

My daughter chose synchro after she tried it with a friend when she was 7. Her first team was a Beginner team. Most of her teammates started synchro when they were similarly-aged. She enjoys it for the team aspect - she was never that interested in solo competitions but still loves to skate. You will also find that many synchro skaters focus on passing their moves and dance tests, but not as heavily in freeskate tests. For instance on the top US Senior teams, most skaters have tested (or plan to test)through Gold Dance, but many seem to top out freestyle at the Juvenile-Novice range. Even so, it is not rare to find top synchro skaters that have tested Gold in all 3 disciplines. However even if they pass their Senior Freeskate, they would not be competitive at the Senior Freestyle level.

There are a some skaters that competed freestyle until they reached college and then join their school's collegiate or senior team. On the flip side, I have also known of dancers and freestyle skaters that tried synchro but then quit because "it didn't work out." It really depends on the skater, but one can't assume that an accomplished dance/singles skater will be able to do, or enjoy synchro. It will be interesting if synchro ever makes it to the Olympics. Right now, US Senior teams are mostly made up of skaters who have done synchro for a long time. I can see many skaters from other disciplines flocking to synchro for a chance at the Olympics.

As far as age, the makeup of a team in the US depends on the level and USFS rules. Senior teams have a minimum age of 14. I think the average age of Senior teams has gone up in the past 5 years. 5 years ago you would have seen many high school students on Haydenettes. This year, I think there might be only 1 or 2 high school students. It is trending towards college aged skaters or older, with skaters moving across the region or country in order to join a team. In the past, the team would have been comprised of skaters that had moved up through the club's younger teams.

At the local club level, you will find most clubs will focus heavily on synchro or not at all. The is an underlying rivalry between synchro and singles, so it gets pretty hard for a club to manage both successfully. There a few very large clubs that can do it.